Slime-concentrator.



E. G. PORTER. SLIME GONOENTRATOR.

APPLIQATIONPILED HAYS. 1907.

2 SHBETS-SHEET 1.

INVENTOH EDWARD CIR'IE R ATTORNEYS;

THE NORRIS PETERS can. wnsmuarpu. n. c.

No. 874,433; 'PATENTED 113014.1907.

E.G.PORTER. SLIME GONGENTRATOR. APPLICATION FILED MAY 3. 1907.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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. WITNESSES A TTORNEYS .THE NcRRrs PETERS (20., WASHINGTON, u. u.

. tion of the machine.

EDWARD CARPENTER PORTER, OF TELLURIDE, COLORADO.

SLIME-CONCENTRATOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

' Patented Dec.24=,1907.

Application filed May 3, 1907. Serial No. 371,680.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD CARPENTER PORTER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Telluride, in the county of San Miguel and State of Colorado, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Slime-Concentrators, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to slime concentrators of that class having a plurality of superposed blanketed tables for extracting the values from slimes by flowing the pulp over the blankets and subsequently sweeping off the ore deposit with clear water. Concentrators of the same general class have heretofore been constructed, having a set of tables and provided with means for flushing all of them at the same time. This is objectionable, especially where water is scarce or the head is small, because the simultaneous discharge takes a large quantity of water, and also weakens the jet force to such an extent that the deposits, which are quite tenacious, are not well or fully dislodged.

By my invention, a set of tables is provided with individual jet or discharge pipes which are moved back and forth over the tables and which discharge successively, by means of automatic valves in the various pipes. This gives the full head and jets to each table, and by having fine or narrow nozzles gives more force, with less water. If, however, a large number of tables are used, and the water supply is sufficient, the valveoperating devices can be set so as to sweep several tables at once,

The invention also has various other advantages of a simplicity and economy of operation, as will be more clearly evident from the following description and the drawings.

In the drawings-Figure 1 is a side eleva- Fig. 2 is a vertical, central, longitudinal section of the main portion or body of the machine, some of the gearing being omitted. Fig. 3 is a top plan view.

The frame of, the machine is indicated at 6, supporting a plurality of superposed blanketed or canvas covered tables 7 upon cross bars 8 at head and tail, saidtables being inclined in the usual manner. At the head of each table is a distributing board 9, supported between the head posts of the frame and discharging onto the tables the pulp received from the launder 10 through the several chutes of the distributing box 11.

The frame has at each side a track 12, ex-

tending lengthwise parallel to the tables, and on each track rolls a carriage 13 carrying a vertical pipe header 14. One, at least, of these headers must be a pipe, the other may be a simple supporting and spacing bar. Ex-

tending across between the headers, above eachtable, is a jet pipe 15, having a series of flattened nozzles 16 which are placed along the pipe at intervals, say four or six inches, and have narrow mouths or slots directed toward the table. These throw broad streams on the tables, with. more force and less water than round jet holes and give an advantageous solid stream, without the obj ectionable spraying incident to round holes. The pipe header receives a supply of water from the main 17, through a flexible hose 18, which is long enough to allow movement of the rack of pipes from one end of the tables to the other.

Each jet pipe has an oscillating valve 19, with projecting stem 20, controlling the admission of water from the supply header to the pipe,;and the stems are arranged in osition to be struck by ush-rod 22 at the ead of the tables and we ges or projections 23 at the tail thereof, the rods and wedges being supported on the posts at one side of the frame. The push rods act to open the valves and the wedges to close the same. rods extend into position to be advanced by the stroke of cams 24 carried on a vertical shaft 25 which is driven by bevel gears 26 from the main drive shaft 27, which may be driven in any desired manner.

In the successive operation of the valves, the cams are set in succession around the shaft, opposite each push rod. Obviously they may be set-as desired, according to the manner of operation wished. The rack of pipes move up and down the tracks, the drive shaft 27 having a gear 28 which meshes with a pinion 29 the shaft of which carriesa crank arm 30 connected by link 31 to arm 32 on shaft of segment gear 33 meshing with pinion 34 the shaft 35 of which extends across the head of the machine and has, at opposite ends, swinging arms 36 connected by links 37 to the headers 14, on each side. The gearing causes the .arms 36 to oscillate and reciprocate the rack of pipes from one end of the machine to the other. The various shafts are supported in suitable frames and bearings, needing no particular description.

11 operation, pulpis fed from the feed box and flows evenly over the canvas covered The push tables 7. After the canvas has taken up its load of concentrates the flow of pulp is stopped and the driving power is applied, causing the rack of pipes to travel up and down the tables. The cams 24 operate the push rods and open the valves, in succession or otherwise according to the arrangement of the cams and the valve or valves remain open during the down run of the pipe rack, flowing the clear water over the tables and washing the deposits therefrom, into suitable boxes placed to receive the same. When the rack reaches the tail of the tables the stems of any open valves strike the projections 23 and close the valves, and the rack returns for the next sweep. After the cams leave the push rods they are retracted by springs thereon. The gearing is such as to give the proper rotation of the cam shaft, according to the number of tables and positions of the pipe rack. Four tables are shown, but the number is a matter of choice, according to the available water and other local conditions.

I claim 1. In a slime concentrator, the combination with a table, of a valved jet pipe extend-- ing across over the same, means to reoipro cate the pipe from the head to the tail of the table and automatic means to open and close the valve at the head and tail of the table, respectively.

.2. In a slime concentrator, the combination of a plurality of tables placed one above the other, a rack of jet pipes corresponding to the tables and extending across above the same, means to sweep the pipes back and forth from the head to the tail of the tables, means to automatically supply water to selected pipes during each stroke,

and means to automatically cut off said supply at the tail of the tables.

3. In a slime concentrator, the combination of a plurality of tables placed one above the other, a rack of jet pipes corresponding to the tables and extending across above the same, said pipes having valves with project ing stems, means to sweep the pipes back and forth from the head to the tail of the tables, selective devices at the head of the tables, arranged to strike selected valve stems and open the valves, and projections at the tail of the tables, arranged to strike the stems of the open valves and close the same.

4. In a slime concentrator, the combination of a table, a jet pipe extending across above the same and movable back and forth from the head to the tail thereof, a valve in said pipe, having a projecting stem, a push rod at the head of the table arranged to strike the stem and open the valve, means to operate the push rod, and a projection at the tail of the table arranged to strike the stem and close the valve.

5. In a slime concentrator, the combination of a plurality of superposed tables, a header extending vertically beside the tables and having jet pipes extending therefrom over across the respective tables, means to move, the header and pipes back and forth from the head to the tail of the tables, valves between the header and the respective pipes, means at the head of the tables to open the valves in succession, and means at the tail of the tables to close the open valves.

EDWARD CARPENTER PORTER. Witnesses:

MoLLIE GoLDMAN, T. O. CASEY. 

